The present invention pertains to an exhaust gas system for an internal combustion engine, in particular, of a motor vehicle.
The combustion gases produced during operation of an internal combustion engine are conveyed from the cylinder head of the internal combustion engine into an exhaust gas pipe assembly that discharges the exhaust gases into the surroundings by means of exhaust manifolds. The inlet of the exhaust gas pipe assembly may also contain an exhaust gas accumulator for each cylinder bank of the internal combustion engine, wherein the manifold pipes lead into this exhaust gas accumulator, and wherein the exhaust gas accumulator introduces the thusly combined exhaust gas flow of the individual cylinders into the exhaust gas pipe assembly. Devices for conditioning and/or cleaning the exhaust gas, e.g., a catalytic converter and/or a particle filter, may be arranged in the exhaust gas pipe assembly. It is common practice to also arrange at least one muffler in the exhaust gas pipe assembly in order to reduce or influence the noise of the internal combustion engine that is emitted into the surroundings. With respect to the dimensions and the design of such mufflers, it was determined that an increased muffling effect is associated with an increase in the flow resistance of the muffler, at least in instances in which the muffler has a compact design. An increased flow resistance causes the exhaust gas back-pressure to increase at the exhaust gas outlet of the internal combustion engine. However, the power of the internal combustion engine undesirably decreases as the exhaust gas back pressure increases. In the design of mufflers, the attainable muffling effect consequently is limited by the associated power drop of the internal combustion engine.
The available space, in particular, in motor vehicles may make it necessary to realize the exhaust gas system with two exhaust gas pipe assemblies, through which the exhaust gas flows in a parallel fashion and which either branch off a common exhaust gas pipe that is connected to the internal combustion engine or are separately connected to the internal combustion engine, preferably in V-engines. An exhaust gas system with two exhaust gas pipe assemblies, through which the exhaust gas flows in a parallel fashion, is also referred to as a “double pipe system.” In such a double pipe system, it is possible to respectively arrange at least one muffler in each of the two parallel exhaust gas pipe assemblies. Since the volume flow is cut in half, these mufflers can have a relatively compact design, wherein an improved muffling effect can be achieved at a comparatively low flow resistance.